The field of the invention is cleaning liquid disposal and the invention relates more particularly to the disposal of solid and solvent-containing liquids. Non-aqueous solvent-containing liquids are produced by many industrial and commercial cleaning processes and one particularly egregious problem results from the cleaning of paint equipment (i.e. brushes) since this is done on such a large scale throughout the country. Typically, the cleaning of paint from paint brushes and equipment is accomplished with the use of water-based cleaners and/or solvent-based mixtures, such as acetone, methylethyl ketone, toluene, or blends of hydrocarbons. Unfortunately, the typical painter dumps the paint brush cleaning water and/or solvent mixture onto the ground wherein it can seep into the ground water. Alternatively, sometimes the waste solvent from paint brush cleaning is poured down the drain into the municipal sewer system where it is a source of contamination and such dumping typically is prohibited by law, but unfortunately, it is a law that is very difficult to enforce.
There is, thus, a need for a process which will permit the painter, or other possessor of solvent-containing liquids, to economically and easily dispose of such liquids without breaking the law or contaminating the ground water.